seeing many in Libya fleeing east toward the Egyptian border with all their belongings. Traveling through Libya, he reported rebels in control of several towns.Eastern oil fields are being protected and patrolled by army units that defected from Gadhafi, Engel reported.

seeing many in Libya fleeing east toward the Egyptian border with all their belongings. Traveling through Libya, he reported rebels in control of several towns.Eastern oil fields are being protected and patrolled by army units that defected from Gadhafi, Engel reported.

'Mercenaries everywhere' Gadhafi's residence at Tripoli's Aziziya Gates was guarded by loyalists along with a line of armed militiamen in vehicles, some masked, he said. The radio station building downtown was also heavily fortified. In one western neighborhood, security forces stormed several homes and arrested three or four people, a witness said, while tanks were deployed on the eastern outskirts, witnesses in at least one neighborhood said."Mercenaries are everywhere with weapons. You can't open a window or door. Snipers hunt people," said another resident, who said she had spent the night in her home awake hearing gunfire outside. "We are under siege, at the mercy of a man who is not a Muslim."

17 Bangladeshis among 150 hostages evacuatedDhaka, Feb 24 (bdnews24.com) — Almost half of the 300 foreigners, held hostage by anti-government protesters in the Libyan city of Darnah, have been shifted to Egypt border. The hostages evacuated by the Libyan army on Wednesday night include 17 Bangladeshis, one of the rescued Bangladeshi hostages, Shafiuddin Biswas, told bdnews24.com over phone on Thursday morning. "As many as 150 of the hostages were safely brought to the Egyptian frontier on board two vehicles of the Libyan army," he said expressing his ignorance about the fate of the remaining hostages. "Perhaps, they have also been handed over to their respective company authorities," Shafiuddin said. Those who have shifted to the Egyptian border will be flown to Egypt on board an Egyptian aircraft, he added. He, however, said passports of all of the evacuated persons had been kept to their respective company authorities. "The companies have assured us that they would hand over the passports before noon," Shafiuddin said. Anti-government protesters held about 300 foreigners, including over 100 Bangladeshis, hostage in Darnah, east of Benghazi. bdnews24.com/pc/ach/sht/1145hh